Leander hotchkiss



L. HOTGHKISS. VFRUIT PICKER,-

` No. 79,906. menfed Ju1y14, 1868.

@ruiten aee- I atenzt @fitte en Wonoofrrvinnn, CoNNEorIeUT.

Letters Patel-ittltT 79,906,6Zateol July 14, 1868.'

IMPROVEMENT IN FRUIT-Piernas.

@figc tlgrbn'le taunt-tn in their ttttets ntmt me matirg @ttt nt tige sante.

To ALL WHOM IT MAY'eoNe-EnNf IBe it known that I, IEANDER HOT GHiHsS, of Torrington, in theeounty of'Liteheld, and State of'Connectient, have invented, made, and appliedto use a certain new and useful Improvement in Fruit-Pickers; and I do hereby declare the followingto he a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, reference being had to the v 'annexed drawing, making part of this specification, whereinfi v Figurel is a plan of the fruit-picker open and ready Vto -be 'placed over the fruit. Figure 2 i'sa similar view ofthe same, as closed upon the fruit; and Figure 3 is a section at the line zr :n of g. 2.- Similar marks of reference denote the same parts.

Fruit-pickers halve heretofore been made 'that operate by a pull .of a .wire o r cord.. 'These require the use of both hands, insituations where it is often necessary 4to use onehand for holding on to the tree; heneesueh fpiekers are not convenient.. Y y i' Y The nature of my said invention consists in a4 fruit-gatherer'or picker formed of ajjointed segmental ring, that closes upon the fruit in the act of drawing or moving the same, to pull or'cut oi fruit, thereby allowing v"the fruit-piekerto he operated h y one hand. l I i A Y l 4 In the drawing, a represents a portion of a pole or handle for4 the picker. 'b is .the tangor spike of the picker passing into the pole. @and d are 'joints formed ivith' the i tang' b, arid-- receiving the segments `e and f Awhich are jointed at g and 7L to the segment z'.

These segments fall naturally into the position shown iniig. 1, the shoulder'k, at theI joint e, forming a.

stop. Inthis conditionV the ring is pn's's'edhparo-und the fruit, and the `a-etl o fpulling upon the pole a causes the segments to close together, as seen in iig. 2, 'and held the fruitso that it will be pulled oi" at the stem. I

prefer and use cutters or knives, as at lm,I to cut the stems, but these inight'hedispensed'with The segmentsforming the ring might be made nearly straight, so aste lclose nearer together. if desired.

. The fruit might he allowed to fall, but I prefer and use abagoroanvas tube, attached to the gatherer at `its upper end, as shown at n.'

l What I claim and desire to Vseeure'by Letters Patent, is- Y A A fruit-gatherer formed of a jointed segmentalring, that closes upon the fruit in the act of pulling or cut lting theesame of?, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my signature, this eleventh dayl of May, 1868.

LEANDER HOTCHKISS.

Witnesses 'i H. S. BAnnoun,` E. T. Con. 

